Monday, October 6, 2008

Irony, Beer, and the death of humanity

i'll be the first to admit that the title might be a little overdramatic, but according to a science podcast i've been listening to (and the zeitgeist of the times as well as the emergent church movement), i need to present a narrative that will sucessfully compete for your attention.

Either way, i've been spending quite a bit of time at home since i'm job searching. This requires me to be on the computer a whole lot because that's my main way of looking for openings and applying for them (especially since i'm looking in the technology field). While on the computer today (although not looking for a job) i was listening to a science podcast called Radio Lab where part of their show was spent describing how the internet is disconnecting people from each other while also presenting a pseudo connectedness. This is not a new idea, but it did strike me that in that moment i was embodying their description and also at the same time nodding my head in agreement and disdain for the stupid internet that tears all those generic people in the generic world away from having lives. Irony.

Apparently, these days the average amount of picnics that Americans go on per year has declined quite a bit since 1992 and they've even seen a decrease in the attendance of bars. So apparently there is not as much beer flowing at bars. Unless the bar attending population is making up the difference (hopefully not), there is probably less beer being consumed at these bars. Beer.

All this spells the death of humanity to me. It seems like it's harder for me to be human when i put myself in situations where i'm happily placated and also have all these opportunities to further stunt my growth as a person. Again over-dramatic, but kinda true!

That's why i appreciate what the Tribeca Arts project people did this summer. i wish i had heard about it earlier, but i really like the idea of re-humanizing people! How much fun would it be to find some sort of community art project that could start to do this? i think this is why i'm so drawn to postsecret and a huge reason New Orleans was such a strange and appealing place to me.

So raise your glass to re-humanization!